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September 20, 1999

Customized E-Business

Startup closes the gap between ERP, finished products

Related links:

Chain Of E-vents

And from our sister publication:

InternetWeek Supply Chain Gap Widening

atasweep Inc., a new entrant in the enterprise software market, last week launched applications designed to address one of the latest trends in electronic business: build-to-order manufacturing.

The Datasweep Advantage line tracks custom-designed products through the production cycle and lets employees share information about their development. It can improve the accuracy of delivery-date estimates and evaluates proposed configuration changes, the vendor says. The startup says it's fulfilling a need not being addressed by enterprise resource planning, supply-chain management, or other manufacturing systems. "There's a black hole where ERP stops and finished products are shipped; that's the space we fill," says Vladimir Preysman, CEO, president, and founder of Datasweep.

Build-to-order manufacturing is gaining steam as businesses and consumers expect more personalized products and services from companies that do business online. Janet Gould, an analyst at Plant-Wide Research Group, says Datasweep Advantage targets a category of enterprise manufacturing software that's growing. "Build-to-order, engineer-to-order; that's the direction the market is going," she says.

The line will be marketed to manufacturers of technology products, medical equipment, and telecommunications equipment-many of whom are implementing build-to-order manufacturing as part of their E-business strategies. Datasweep also offers applications that link in manufacturers' component suppliers.

Acma Computers Inc., a manufacturer of custom-built business PCs, is one of four early users of Datasweep Advantage. The Fresno, Calif., company reports that since implementing the software in March, it has increased the rate of on-time shipments from 78% to 96%, and it has reduced inventory by 21%. Acma president Allen Lee says the improved delivery schedules have helped make his company more competitive by increasing customer satisfaction.

Manufacturing engineers, shop-floor managers, and customer-service representatives can access the Java applications through a Java client. The system runs on an IP network and takes an average of 10 weeks to deploy, Datasweep says. Customers can also access the system via Web browsers.

Datasweep Advantage can be integrated with ERP suites, supply-chain management, and front-office applications, the vendor says. It runs on Microsoft SQL 7.0 Server, and an Oracle8 version is in development. Datasweep Advantage is priced at $4,500 per user, with total costs estimated at $250,000 per implementation.

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